Generic Version Control for Application-Specific Requirements

This technical report presents a comprehensive comparison between Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) and Git, highlighting their logical and physical differences as well as their commonalities. The authors argue for the convergence of these two systems into a unified framework known as Generic Version Control (GenericVC), which aims to integrate the strengths of both Git and MVCC. The paper outlines the conceptual similarities between the two systems, such as the handling of transactions and versioning, and discusses the implications of adopting a generalized approach. It details how GenericVC can support both Git-style version control and MVCC-style concurrency control, thereby accommodating a wider range of application-specific use cases. The report also proposes key functions for conflict detection and reconciliation during the commit validation phase, which could enhance the capabilities of existing MVCC systems. Overall, the findings suggest that a unified system could simplify maintenance and improve conflict resolution mechanisms in database management.